Denouncing the horrors of socialism.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I wish we were here on the House floor this morning debating solutions that would reduce grocery bills, lower housing costs, end Trump's tariffs that are strangling American small businesses and manufacturers, solve the Republican healthcare crisis, or any legislation that allows Americans to afford to live through the catastrophic economic policies of Trump and the Republicans.

Mr. Speaker, instead of doing the work that our constituents desperately want us to do, Republicans in the House have chosen once again to advance a resolution under the guise of denouncing ``socialism.''

Let me be clear. This resolution is an embarrassing distraction from the complete and total failure of the Trump administration to deliver actual results for the American people, and the American people see right through it. Sixty-one percent of Americans say that Trump's policies have worsened economic conditions in this country, and 64 percent of Americans say Trump's policies are raising the prices of food and groceries.

What is worse is that this very resolution goes further by using the specter of socialism to undermine some of the most important government programs in our country like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and ObamaCare. These are programs that help everyday Americans put food on their plate and care for their children.

Republicans absurdly think they can convince Americans these programs that are decades old are leading America toward a Stalinist Russia, even though it is blatantly obvious that the policies of Donald Trump are straight out of a dictator's playbook.

Mr. Speaker, the House returned this week from the Trump-Republican shutdown, the longest government shutdown in American history. While House Republicans gave themselves a paid, 2-month vacation, hundreds of thousands of Federal employees were left wondering how they were going to pay their rent or mortgage, and 42 million Americans nearly lost their food assistance.

What was the Trump administration doing? Instead of working with Congress to end the shutdown or with local communities to blunt the impacts of the shutdown, it decided to use the full force of the United States Government to make sure these American families

went hungry and fought twice in the Supreme Court to block legally available funds from being used to help feed them. It further chipped away at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and fired an entire office dedicated to helping rural and struggling communities, the Community Development Financial Institutions fund. All of this because Republicans want to raise the cost for people with ObamaCare health insurance.

Twenty-two million Americans will see their monthly health insurance premiums double, and up to 5 million Americans will likely lose their insurance altogether.

Where is the Republican plan? Where is the plan? Where is the plan to deal with all of this? They don't have one because they think keeping healthcare costs low is socialist.

If Republicans truly cared about denouncing authoritarian socialism, they would start with the Trump administration. In less than 1 year, the Trump administration has demanded U.S. companies like Intel, U.S. Steel, MP Materials, Lithium Americas, and Trilogy Metals to hand over stock to the U.S. Government. These are capitalist companies who are doing business that they claim this government supports. Trump is also considering forcing Lockheed Martin to do the same.

Why are my colleagues, who are so quick to tout their capitalist leans, silent when Trump follows China's communist tactics? The double standard is astounding.

This resolution also seeks to condemn atrocities committed by despotic regimes such as Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, which everyone in this Chamber agrees should be condemned.

Somehow, once again, this resolution fails to condemn some of our history's most terrible dictators, like Adolph Hitler and modern-day dictators like Vladimir Putin, who is responsible for killing countless people in Ukraine, or President Xi who basically runs actual concentration camps for ethnic minorities.

Why aren't House Republicans denouncing these dictators when we, as Congress, can actually do something to stop it? It is probably because President Trump has said he thinks Putin has done ``a great job,'' and is ``a genius,'' or maybe because he thinks President Xi ``is really a friend of mine.''

In line with these other authoritarian regimes, just this week, Trump said Democrats in the House and Senate had committed ``seditious behavior, punishable by death'' and reposted a post saying: ``hang them.''

We should be working as Congress to denounce these horrific words, not beloved government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Just as those authoritarian regimes are often rife with corruption, the Trump family is also doing everything possible to enrich itself. Since taking office, they have issued their own stablecoins and meme coins and various crypto products, even as Congress was in the middle of considering legislation and regulators were drafting rules. In fact, the Trump family is more than $1 billion richer from crypto alone since Trump took office, and Trump's billionaire buddies have also made fistfuls of money as the rest of America struggles just to put food on the table.

The excess is so great that Trump is literally tearing down the White House to build a golden ballroom. He is sending $40 billion to bail out Argentina and his billionaire buddies and has even hosted Great Gatsby- themed parties at Mar-a-Lago.

This resolution is a huge waste of time and does absolutely nothing to lower costs or solve any of the problems that our country faces.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this resolution. If they keep it up, I am going to name all of the Republicans who took PPP money. Is that socialism? I am going to name them who are taking advantage of other programs that they call socialist. I am going do it if they keep this up.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, for those who are expecting their Social Security checks this month, turn them down if you think that is socialism.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes), who is also the ranking member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Connecticut.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans just passed a resolution that gives Senators the right to sue their own government for up to $500,000. Trump is suing the government also. The President of the United States, who controls the Department of Justice, is suing the Department of Justice. He wants to personally get $230 million because he didn't like being investigated, and he wants to get revenge on his enemies. Give me a break.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Listen, instead of debating this pointless resolution, Congress should be focused on how we can reverse the catastrophic economic policies of the Trump administration that have raised costs for everyone.

It is estimated that the illegal disastrous tariffs Trump has imposed will amount to an average tax increase of $1,200 in 2025 and $1,600 in 2026 per household and represent the largest U.S. tax increase as a percent of GDP since 1993.

Mr. Speaker, not only are Trump's policies raising prices for everyone, they are killing American jobs. Although he campaigned on bringing back manufacturing to the United States, President Trump's tariff policies have killed 42,000 manufacturing jobs.

Since the beginning of this year, U.S. employers have eliminated nearly 1.1 million jobs. This past October saw the highest number of layoffs for any October since 2003.

Additionally, during the Trump Republican shutdown, Trump fired an entire office at the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund that was dedicated to helping rural and struggling communities.

Instead of debating this useless resolution, we should be working to reverse the Trump administration's reckless economic policies that are hurting the American people.

Does anyone want to know why Republicans are so scared of the mayor of New York? It is because he wants to lower grocery bills, transportation costs, and housing costs. Republicans know that Trump's policies are the reason costs are so high.

Mr. Speaker, the evidence and the facts are right before us about what is happening with this economy. The President of the United States refuses to accept the facts, and he keeps supporting these tariffs. He does not understand how it all works.

We are in danger of him because they and him--the President and the Republican Party--simply want to be in control. They love power. The President loves Putin. The President likes Kim Jong Un. He likes having a parade with

all of the military to show he is in control. He comes up with policies that give him more power and more control, and he is ignoring the harm that he is doing to this country.

Mr. Speaker, I say to all the Members: It is not only about the harm that is coming to urban communities. Those rural communities that are losing their hospitals, that don't have healthcare, and have hungry families who have voted for him are now understanding and are demonstrating that it has been buyer's remorse. When the next election comes, we are going to see what happens.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman said something about what was happening in New York with the mayor, and he mentioned government-owned grocery stores. First of all, my colleague won't admit that groceries are too high and that families cannot afford the cost of eggs and basic good foods to have great nutrition for their families.

By the way, let me remind my colleagues of something. My then-husband was stationed at Camp Carson in Colorado. Mr. Speaker, guess where we got our food? We got our food from government-owned commissaries. They had the best prices, and we had great nutrition. They absolutely supported the families. Who ran them? They were run by the government.

I would love the idea of seeing what we can do to reduce the cost of groceries. We already have them in the commissaries. They have price control, and they are heavily subsidized.

Let me ask the question: Does this mean we should eliminate them because that is socialism or because the commissaries provide food that is affordable at the bases all over America and the world?

Are the fire departments, police departments, schools, and hospitals socialism? I raise the question.

Instead of my colleagues taking this time to talk about how we were the cause of the shutdown, when my colleagues know they were, don't deflect it. Come on. Let's talk about socialism. Let's talk about the commissaries. Let's talk about our Social Security. Let's talk about the PPP program and how some of my colleagues got money from their government to put into their businesses.

Let's talk about socialism. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to deflect from what is wrong with this administration and what is wrong with the economic policies of this administration. Let's talk about it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as I am challenging my Republicans on the opposite side of the aisle, let's talk about socialism. Let's not try to deflect from what you know and understand that you want to hide.

Before I go into much more, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin), who is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, to tell them what socialism is really all about.

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say that the Republicans are confusing socialism with despotism or authoritarianism.

Again, Republicans are confusing socialism with despotism or authoritarianism. Despots try to control the press, education, and the system of justice. Despots send the military against their own citizens. Despots try to control the economy. Despots arrest their own citizens, including children, in the middle of the night.

Let me just say that the young lady talked about working hard, and socialism, you know, robs families of what they have worked hard for and what they have earned. Well, I want to ask you: What is this administration doing when it takes a 10 percent equity stake in Intel, 15 percent equity stake in MP Materials, a 10 percent equity stake in Lithium America, a 10 percent equity stake in Trilogy Metals, and a ``golden share'' in U.S. Steel Corporation? What is that?

Now, the Republicans have tried to confuse you on what socialism is and even called it communism-lite. That is an absolute distraction from what we are discussing here today.

Communism is communism. Socialism is socialism. This is a government run by someone who is not taking into consideration the facts and the harm and the threat that they are doing to education, the attempt to take over law firms, the attempt to tell some of the finest universities in this country what they can teach and what they cannot teach, and I repeat, giving away our money to a country, $40 billion, at a time when that money is so desperately needed in this government.

We can talk about this all day, but, absolutely, you are looking silly when

you are trying to talk about communism-lite or you are trying to describe socialism when you don't know what it is.

So I am saying that I denounce this administration, Trump's family, and all that is going on that is undermining our democracy.

We are about a democracy that must be protected, that must be fought for. We on this side of the aisle are fighting every day to make sure there is justice and there is equality and that our government is not undermining democracy and calling it socialism, calling it communism, calling it whatever you think you can use to deflect from what is going on.

We are in a terrible time in this government with a President of the United States and a family who is enriching themselves on our backs.

Yes, I fought hard to keep the President of the United States, the Cabinet, and the Members of Congress from owning cryptocurrency, but unfortunately, they are enriching themselves every day. I think the President has enriched himself by maybe $1 trillion already in the limited time that he has been the President of the United States.

So don't come here talking about the dangers of socialism. You better come here and talk about what you are going to do to strengthen our democracy, how you are going to make sure that we have an education system for all the children, rather than an education system that is being torn apart by the President of the United States. Let's talk about how people are sleeping on the street, homeless, when we are cutting Section 8 programs in housing.

We can go on about this all day. I will reserve the balance of my time so I can rest a bit. Let them say what they want to say, so I can come back and tell them what they need to hear.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to take the words down.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to take down her words.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Salazar for withdrawing her words, and let's get on with this discussion about socialism.

Instead of legislating and doing the work to tackle real problems-- Americans face the skyrocketing cost of groceries, rising rents, and mortgage payments.

Republicans have always opposed Medicaid and Medicare. They have been undermining it since day one, and they do not want to fix the catastrophic economic policies of this administration.

Mr. Speaker, I want you to know that this administration is responsible for the situation that we find ourselves in with this failing economy. The Trump administration must take the credit for what is happening with the loss of food for our children, for a limited period of time, before we fought to get it back.

Mr. Speaker, I haven't finished, but I vote ``no,'' and I want you to vote ``no'' because this is absolutely unnecessary.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up

House Resolution 879 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule and the underlying legislation.

Yesterday, the Rules Committee met and produced a rule, H. Res. 879, providing for the House's consideration of eight separate measures.

The rule provides closed rules for consideration of S.J. Res. 80, H.J. Res. 130, H.J. Res. 131 with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Natural Resources, or their respective designees, for each joint resolution. The rule provides each such joint resolution one motion to recommit.

Further, the rule provides closed rules for the consideration of H.R. 1949 and H.R. 3109 with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, or their respective designees, for each bill. The rule provides each bill with a motion to recommit.

Additionally, the rule provides for consideration of H. Con. Res. 58 under a closed rule with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Financial Services, or their respective designees.

The rule also provides for consideration of H.R. 5214 and H.R. 5107 under closed rules with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, or their respective designees, on each bill. The rule provides for one motion to recommit for each bill.

Finally, the rule tables H. Res. 581 upon the transmission of a message to the Senate that the House has passed H.R. 4405.

Mr. Speaker, after over 40 days of the Democrat government shutdown, the House has returned to regular order, and this majority is continuing to push forward with the America First agenda, the American people's agenda.

All of these pieces of legislation we are considering today are in alignment with the American people's demand and President Trump's executive orders that we maintain a robust posture of American energy dominance.

You know, Mr. Speaker, our Democrat colleagues have developed a strong proclivity to thumb their noses at the development of energy that comes from American soil. One must wonder why they choose to do that. They pay lipservice to environmental protections and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but it is just a fact that American oil and American natural gas are cleaner and more environmentally friendly than any from our global competitors.

Why would they cede our dominance on the global stage in favor of hostile actors who lack even the most basic environmental protections?

We are blessed as a nation to have vast repositories of natural resources that we can draw from and utilize accordingly. When we ignore the opportunities to harness these resources for our benefit, we deny ourselves the opportunity to grow more self-sufficient.

H.R. 5214 and H.R. 5107, two measures reported from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, focus on restoring law and order in our Nation's Capital City, a city that ought to be a model for the rest of the Nation to follow.

H.R. 5214 would revoke cashless bail in the District of Columbia and would require mandatory pretrial and postconviction detention for crimes of violence and other dangerous crimes.

H.R. 5107 would repeal the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 enacted by the District of Columbia Council. This act targeted police officers in D.C. for simply doing their duties, and it led to over 1,600 officers being removed from the city's force.

Thanks to President Trump's efforts, the streets in D.C. are safer, and we have the opportunity through these two measures to add to that progress.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, we have H. Con. Res. 58, a resolution denouncing the horrors of socialism. Most of us here in this body recognize how dangerous the plague of socialism really is. We understand its history of failure and oppression. Throughout history, this ideology has collapsed into the most brutal of dictatorships, communist regimes, and outright totalitarian rule.

Many are quick to avert their eyes and cover their ears when presented with facts about the horrors of socialism, how many individuals across the world have suffered and died because of it. This resolution will put everyone in this body on record. The American people will see who espouses this caustic ideology and those who reject it.

I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, while it is true there have been 80 closed measures, this number needs context. Twelve of the closed rules were in the rules package, which passed 2 weeks before the 119th Rules Committee even organized to begin meeting. Additionally, 25 measures were CRAs. They don't allow for an amendment. Sixteen were bills that received no amendments, meaning 41 measures were closed by definition. It is also important that four of the closed rules are duplicates from a previous failed rule. In reality, only 27 measures have been closed by discretion of the Committee.

Additionally, the Rules Committee under Republican control has simply been more productive, producing more total rules than our colleagues ever did. For example, during the most recent Democratic-controlled Congresses, the Rules Committee produced 127 total rules in the 116th Congress and 163 in the 117th Congress. Contrast this to the 200 total rules in the Republican-led 118th Congress. For the 119th, we are on pace to once again produce nearly 200 rules for the Congress.

Mr. Speaker, we are doing our job. We are not closing out debate. We are having plenty of debate. There are plenty of opportunities for our colleagues to offer amendments. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, let's be clear: Republicans don't oppose the full transparency of the Epstein files. We embrace the Oversight Committee's task of doing just that. We embrace Representative Massie's legislation here today by putting it up for a vote under suspension. I will be voting for it.

We already have a House investigation that carries the full force of law, and there is no opposition to respecting the majority's wishes to get this codified into law. Let's get to it. Let's get to the vote and end these false debates, straw man arguments, and non sequiturs.

We tried to pass this bill last week, but Democrats wouldn't agree to doing so. Let's vote now. Democrats should stop, listen, and take yes for an answer.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

At the top of this page, I have written: ``Democrat hypocrisy on Epstein.'' Mr. Speaker, that is what we are hearing today.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. I am proud to have supported the full investigation into the Epstein files on that committee.

Furthermore, I am proud to have supported formalizing that investigation by taking the decisive step in directing that investigation by a special rule provided by the Rules Committee. This gave the Oversight Committee's investigation the full weight of the House of Representatives behind the committee's existing subpoena power. It is very important in this debate.

Mr. Speaker, let's get things straight here. In just a matter of hours, we will vote on the Massie bill. That won't preclude the existing House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's investigation in any way. That is a great thing because that investigation is yielding results.

We now know that one of Jeffrey Epstein's closest confidantes was apparently Larry Summers, a Cabinet member in the Clinton administration. We now know that a Democrat Member in this body, Stacey Plaskett, was colluding with Jeffrey Epstein in real time during a hearing. The subject matter was how to take down President Trump. We can't make this stuff up.

We now know that Epstein himself hated President Trump. It is in black and white. We now know that one of the chief Epstein victims stated that President Trump never acted inappropriately.

Don't forget that oversight investigations specifically subpoenaed Bill and Hillary Clinton for their ties to Jeffrey Epstein. They haven't been quick to step into the breach and exonerate themselves, have they?

The truth will continue to come out, as it has, because of Republicans and a current Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigation, one that already carries the full force of law. Let's see where that leads.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we need to get facts straight here. President Trump's Department of Justice in his first term arrested and prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein. We, on our side, want justice to prevail in this case and in every case.

Speaker Johnson has always been clear that if the discharge petition reached the necessary signatures, then the House would consider the legislation, and that is what we are providing for in our rule today.

In fact, as soon as the petition hit 218 votes last Wednesday, House Republicans offered a unanimous consent request to pass the legislation then.

However, the Democratic leader would not give consent to do that last week.

Why?

It is because they are not really interested in this. They are interested in some other things.

Mr. Speaker, I have to correct the Record.

Mr. Massie did not request time from me. I am the person who controls the time on the Republican side. He did not request time from me. I would have given him time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Our colleagues want Americans to believe that this discharge petition and underlying legislation are the be-all and end-all in this investigation. However, it is House Republicans who have worked tirelessly to achieve true justice for victims.

To date, the significant information that has come out has come from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee as a result of it issuing 13 subpoenas. We have released 65,000 pages of documents from the Department of Justice; the Epstein estate, which was not mentioned in the underlying legislation; the former U.S. attorney; and others.

Let me say it again. The unanimous-consent request to pass the legislation immediately last week was blocked by the minority leader, full stop. If Democrats truly cared about finding justice immediately for victims, this legislation would have been passed last week. Instead, they want political theater to capitalize on.

House Republicans, on the other hand, remain focused on truth, accountability, and delivering real justice for Epstein's victims, not political points.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, those of us who did not sign the discharge petition are just as concerned about the victims or, as some are calling them, survivors as our colleagues who signed the discharge petition.

We share contempt for anyone who abused anyone else. I have stood on this floor many times, Mr. Speaker, to speak out for victims and survivors of people who have been abused and against anyone who breaks the law or takes advantage of an innocent person.

We will not be characterized as insensitive to that, but House Republicans

who didn't sign the discharge petition remain focused on truth, accountability, and delivering real justice for Epstein victims.

Again, I will point out that it was under President Trump's Department of Justice that Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and tried. We have not tried to avoid this situation. We want things done the right way. We want maximum justice for these victims and survivors.

Our rule today simply expedites consideration of the Massie-Khanna legislation. As I said, we would have liked to have seen it pass last week when we gave an opportunity for it, but it was blocked by the Democratic minority leader.

Mr. Speaker, I ask for support for this rule and the underlying legislation. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the previous question and ``yes'' on the rule.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, Americans are working more and more for less and less.

Almost every day, I speak with young people who can't afford to start a family, can't buy a house, and can't get ahead. I hear it from seniors who are struggling to survive on fixed incomes. I see it with my own eyes. Moms and dads are putting items back on the shelves in the grocery store because they can't afford them. Parents can't go back to work because they can't afford childcare. People's health insurance premiums are doubling and tripling because this majority has failed to act.

During election season, we heard from Trump and Republicans who swore up and down they would bring down prices. They promised the American people they would reverse inflation and focus like a laser on affordability. They have broken that promise. They have betrayed the American people.

If you want more evidence of that, look at the bills on the floor today: more garbage, more culture war crap, more bills written by this Republican majority of, by, and for the billionaire class.

Republicans moved Heaven and Earth to give tax breaks to the rich and powerful. That got done in a nanosecond.

If you are a regular person staring down next year's healthcare premium hikes and deciding whether to pay a thousand bucks more or put food on the table, the answer you get back from the Republicans is: Let them eat cake.

We are barreling toward another shutdown at the end of January. We could have spent the last 2 months working on passing the nine appropriations bills Republicans still need to pass to stop another shutdown. Instead, they went on a taxpayer-funded paid vacation for 8 weeks.

Let me just say, because we are debating a rule to consider these eight bills, this rule sucks. There are eight closed rules, no amendments, no changes allowed on the floor, take it or leave it. If you are keeping count at home, that is 80 completely closed rules this Congress, the most ever in a year.

Mr. Speaker, I want to correct the gentlewoman because last night in the Rules Committee she said that five of these bills didn't receive any amendments. That is because she didn't ask for any. When you don't send an amendment deadline, everyone knows you are doing a closed rule.

My Republican colleagues have been complicit in these 80 closed rules. Nearly 9 out of 10 times, the majority party has not been allowed to bring amendments to the floor. They are getting blocked by their own leadership time and time again. How does that feel?

Again, this is a terrible rule, and I urge a ``no'' vote. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, those are a lot of words to justify the most closed Congress in history, the most authoritarian Congress in history. It would make Putin blush.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of H.R. 6074, which would extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits for 3 years, through 2028.

We are in the midst of a healthcare crisis. More than 20 million Americans who get their healthcare on the ACA exchanges are going to see their premiums skyrocket next year. That includes 250,000 people in my home State of Massachusetts, who are paying lower premiums and copays due to these tax credits, which Democrats created in 2021 and which are set to expire at the end of the year.

Let me read you some of the stories from folks in my district: I just received my letter, and my monthly costs have gone from $1,287 to $3,026 for next year. As a working family with a daughter who has an autoimmune disease, we are struggling, and I am working 50-plus hours a week just to pay the insurance.

Here is another one: With the Health Connector, I was paying $264 per month, acceptable seeing that I am healthy but not young. Without the advanced premium tax credit, my monthly premium will be just over $800 per month. I can't and I won't pay that. I will go without.

This is happening across the country, and for the sake of millions of Americans and their healthcare, I urge my Republican colleagues to support this bill and vote ``no'' on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the Record along with any extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, shortly on the floor, Republicans are about to finally bring up the Massie-Khanna bill to release the Epstein files. We had to drag this leadership here kicking and screaming.

I appreciate their sudden and stunning change of heart on this issue, but I state for the record that the Republican leadership has tried to block this day for months and months and months.

I also want to state for the record that Donald Trump could release these files on his own, today, right now, right this very second. He doesn't need to wait for Congress to pass the bill. He could release the files himself, but he won't. That is why we are here, because he refuses to act.

Meanwhile, the Republican majority has blocked transparency at every turn. They stonewalled in committee. The gentlewoman from North Carolina and every Republican on the Rules Committee voted nine times to block my amendment to release the Epstein files, nine times.

Republicans were so afraid of my amendment that Speaker Johnson shut down the Rules Committee and sent us home early in July, and then he refused to swear in a new Member of Congress for weeks because she promised to be the 218th signature to force this bill forward. Only four Republicans signed the discharge petition. Every single Democrat signed on.

In a few moments, I am going to yield time to Representative Massie, who has been the Republican leader of this effort alongside Representative Khanna on the Democratic side. Here is why I am doing that: This bill should be getting a full hour of debate on the floor, but Speaker Johnson, I guess at Donald Trump's direction, is throwing every procedural gimmick at the wall to see what sticks, and he is trying to limit debate on the floor because for some reason he is very, very afraid of talking about this. That is why I am donating a significant chunk of my time to Members who have been silenced by the Speaker for the terrible crime of demanding truth and transparency.

If I had to guess, most Republicans will probably vote in favor of releasing the files, but they are not voting ``yes'' because their conscience changed. They are voting ``yes'' because Donald Trump tells most of them how to vote, and he realized he has lost on this one.

He says that people who support this bill ``betrayed the entire Republican Party.'' Really, really? How is accountability for a pedophile, something Donald Trump campaigned on, how is that now a betrayal? This was his issue, his idea. He ran on releasing the files.

By the way, to those who say that Biden should have released these files, let me just address that right now. You are right, he should have, but he didn't make it his number one issue, and he is not the President right now. Donald Trump is. He could have released the files at any point over the last 11 months, but he has not.

Republicans have had months to sign the discharge petition. They had months to bring this bill to the floor, but this leadership has chosen obstruction. They don't want to pass this bill. They don't even want to talk about it on the House floor, and so that is why debate matters.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman doesn't oppose this? Boy, she has a funny way of showing it. I gave the gentlewoman nine opportunities in the Committee on Rules to bring this measure to the floor. I gave her nine opportunities. Every time I brought up an amendment, she voted it down. There were nine opportunities. To say that somehow this is always what they wanted, I don't know, but that doesn't pass the smell test.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Khanna).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman says that we should just trust her and Republican leadership. After what I saw unfold over these last several months, I can't. There was obstruction and the use of every maneuver possible to avoid this moment we have here today.

I say for the record: It doesn't matter whether there are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents implicated in these files. We believe in accountability for everybody who abuses young women. We believe in justice. That is kind of what is uniting many of us on this side of the aisle here today.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Khanna for his leadership. I thank Representative Massie, Representative Greene, and Representative Mace for their courage and for their willingness to stand up for what is right. We don't agree on very much, but we do agree there ought to be accountability when young women are abused. That is what this is about.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Massie) to control the time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, first, let me say how much I admire the courage of my Republican colleagues who are beside me here today.

Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, this is not about us, and it is not about politics. This is about the survivors, young girls who were exploited by powerful men. These were men who used money and power to take advantage of girls, some as young as 11 years old.

The President of the United States calls it all a hoax. Can you imagine that? What an evil and disgusting thing to say. These young girls, now women, the survivors, what happened to them was horrific. They were sexually abused, many of them for years, and the President of the United States calls it all a hoax.

What kind of messed up, sick-in-the-head, immoral person says something like that? This bill is about making sure that powerful men are held accountable. It is about demanding truth and transparency for the American people.

Republican leaders in this House lost control of the story. They lost the ability to hide behind procedure, and they lost the luxury of pretending that they were ever on the right side. The American people see it. Survivors see it, and history will see it.

Listening to the Speaker of the House's press conference today, it sounds like he basically wants to kill this whole thing. He is trying to obstruct and derail the process.

Why the hell is he fighting so hard to do the opposite of what the survivors want? What an awful, awful thing to do.

Let us release the files. Let's give survivors the transparency they have long been denied. Let us take back power from the rich, billionaire elites who think that they can do whatever they want with no justice or accountability. Let's remember exactly who had to be dragged here under duress and who stood up from day one to demand the truth.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 879, I call up the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 58) denouncing the horrors of socialism, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the concurrent resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, a ``yes'' vote on this resolution should be a relatively straightforward, easy decision.

It simply states that Congress denounces socialism in all its forms and opposes the implementations of socialist policies in the United States of America.

It is a statement that I would hope all of our elected leaders in the United States up and down our system of government could support.

Socialism ignores the side of a man and woman that is the spirit. It dulls the human capacity for self-initiative, entrepreneurship, and risk-taking. For those who have concerns about the resolution, I just invite them to read it.

It outlines the pain and hardship experienced by millions around the world who have suffered under socialist regimes. This is something that the sponsor of the resolution, Congresswoman Salazar of Florida, has focused on combating for her entire career.

Congresswoman Salazar is the daughter of Cuban exiles and was born in Miami's Little Havana. Representative Salazar has led the charge against socialist policies.

This resolution today is just one example of her commitment to her constituents and our entire Nation. The contrast between the successful policies under market capitalism and the freedoms associated with, particularly, our robust democracy here in America and socialism across the world and in history could not be starker.

I cannot express this enough: This resolution is not just a messaging bill or, as some from across the aisle have called it, a waste of time. It is not that to the people and the families who have experienced the horrors and atrocities associated with socialist regimes.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Salazar for her work on this. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote a vigorous ``yes'' on this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy my good friend from California's long lectures to this House on her views about current events. I am always grateful for her point of view.

Mr. Speaker, I would share from my perspective that the shutdown was borne fully and irresponsibly by the United States Senate, by just a handful of Democratic Senators with their leader, Mr. Schumer, that refused to keep the government open while we continue debates about something we do every day here, which is, what are the ways and means to fund the American Government.

This House body under Speaker Mike Johnson with bipartisan vote, I might add, had a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open for those 42 days. Yet, 14 times, Senate Democrats denied funding to air traffic controllers, denied funding to farm assistance, and denied funding for all the Federal programs, inconveniencing States, hurting families, and hurting Federal workers.

Further, perhaps, unlike some, I certainly gave up my pay for those 42 days by direction of this House. I was not going to be paid personally as a Member of Congress while we see this kind of lack of responsibility out of the Senate.

Today, what we are talking about here in the most vigorous democracy in the land in our 250th year, we are talking about rejecting socialism that punishes freedom, punishes individual action, and tears families apart. That is what we are here to talk about. We are not here to rattle down about current events.

Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman from Florida, Congresswoman Salazar, leads our Western Hemisphere Subcommittee in the House Foreign Affairs Committee and what better person, Mr. Speaker, to have this responsibility.

Born in Little Havana in Miami, daughter of Cuban exiles, let her tell you how cushy life was under Castro's Communist socialist dictatorship.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Salazar).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Kim), who grew up in Korea, and as a young girl immigrated here to the United States of America. She knows the truth of postwar Korea and how challenging it was.

She compared the Korea of her childhood to the Korea of today: Democracy, freedom, vigorous democracy, amazingly vigorous democracy in Korea today. Mrs. Kim is now the chairwoman of our East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs. What a transition and what a great voice to condemn socialism.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose), my good friend, a prominent member of the House Financial Services Committee, and very active on financial policy in this House.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, regarding the policies that are perhaps being considered in New York, the voices of the people of New York have been heard. They have spoken.

We think about having government-controlled grocery stores, instead of relying on entrepreneurial immigrant families or Korean families with the beautiful bodegas and flower shops around the city. They are now somehow doing an inadequate job. The mayor proposes that the government step into those businesses or run those grocery stores, for example.

Mr. Speaker, he proposes even more difficult rent controls that have already driven down the number of units available in the city of New York, which is already suffering from a huge housing shortage and a huge price disadvantage for the thousands of people who want to work in the city.

This is contrary to economic choice, and that is another reason why we are here on this House floor. We are here to note that an open and democratic market capitalist system offers choice. The freedom to choose is of critical value. That is limited under socialism, in addition to the atrocities.

One of my favorite economists, Nobel Prize Winner Friedrich Hayek, authored books I read as a young man such as, ``The Road to Serfdom'' and ``Constitution of Liberty.'' This is a man who lived under socialism. He lived through the Communist regimes of Stalin and Eastern Europe and of Nazi Germany. He talked about the road to serfdom. Mr. Speaker, we think of some of these policies potentially as the scenic route to socialism.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), who chairs the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement for House Judiciary. He is someone who understands market capitalism and a constitutional Republic like no other Member.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), who is a distinguished senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Malliotakis), who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and who is firmly opposed to socialism.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Alford), the chair of the Small Business Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations and a distinguished member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Salazar), my friend from south Florida who is also a child of Cuban exiles from the Castro takeover of Cuba.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in the short time we have remaining this morning on this important resolution, let's cut to the chase.

America stands as a beacon of freedom. America stands as a place of choice. America stands as a place of initiative and opportunity. What the gentlewoman from Florida brings to the House today is a resolution that says that we condemn the horrors of socialism not just the atrocities associated with mass murder in Ukraine or Cuba or Venezuela or imprisonment but the capture of the spirit that ends individual freedom and ends individual opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, I will say that I have been shocked at some of the debate today that we hear from a daughter of

Korea, two daughters from Cuba, who have seen firsthand the dangers, the fear, the atrocities, the restraint, the constraint, the end of freedom that they experienced and their families experienced personally.

In my young life, I worked to bring freedom to Eastern Europe. I saw East Germany's empty shelves, empty eyes, empty spirits, no choice, and in West Germany, vibrancy. Yet, today, we would even have to debate that socialism has some value to the human spirit across the land, it is amazing to me.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this resolution whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, old, young, no matter what your political philosophy is, let's unite on this floor and reject the evils of socialism.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the honorable gentleman from Arkansas, the distinguished French Hill, chairman of the Committee on Financial Services. It is a pleasure for me to be serving with him on this committee.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to say before I start, before I explain to this body why I am introducing this resolution, when I was a journalist covering stories for Univision Network, I interviewed many people who had lost their legs or lost their brothers or sisters in the middle of the ocean, trying to get to Miami, and the sharks ate them up. Some of them were eaten up alive. Others lost legs.

When they made it to Florida, I was able to interview them as a journalist and see the horrors of what they had to go through because they were escaping the paradise called socialism. I am going to start with that and maybe finish with another anecdote.

The reason we are introducing this resolution is to condemn the horrors of socialism, and I am presenting just the facts. I invite my colleagues on the other side to vote to condemn this nefarious ideology.

This has nothing to do with political parties. This is not a Democratic issue. This is not a Republican issue. This is a moral vote against an ideology that has destroyed millions and millions of families--many of those families I serve in District 27, the heart of the city of Miami, the heart of the Cuban exile community and now the Venezuelan community--and murdered more than 100 million lives besides crushing hundreds of thousands of other families and individuals.

Unfortunately, socialism and Marxism crush the human soul. It is not just in my community in Miami. Millions of Cubans had to flee. It is the rest of the hemisphere and the rest of the world. Just look at Russia, look at North Korea, and look at Iran.

What a coincidence that, today, President Trump is receiving in the White House the mayor-elect, Mr. Mamdani, from New York City. I salute the President for receiving Mr. Mamdani because he won fair and square, and that is the way democracy works.

Let me just tell you something. Knowing very well how Fidel worked, how Hugo Chavez works, and how socialism works, I want to put this in

perspective. If it were to be the other way around and Trump would have been the mayor-elect and Mamdani were to be the President of the United States, I assure you that there is no way that Mamdani is going to receive Trump at the White House, period.

How do I know that? Because I know exactly how they operate. Democracy is just a tool to get to power, period. People who love freedom, we are just useful fools to be used in order to get to the business of power, which is all socialist, communist, whatever you want to call it. If it is not democracy, freedom, and a free-market economy, it is just a bad ideology. Unfortunately, that is what they do to achieve power. They use us.

Just look at Venezuela. Oh, my God, Venezuela is in the news. Everyone is talking about Venezuela, my God, the Caribbean.

Let me just give you the facts. Maria Corina Machado, who is the legitimate President of Venezuela, who won 80-20 after President Biden gave the opportunity to Maduro to do fair and square elections and transparent elections, 2 years ago Maduro signs a document by the name of the Barbados Agreement, and he agrees to the Biden administration and to Juan Gonzalez, who used to be the National Security Advisor for Latin America, that he was going to leave if he did not win the elections. He signed that document with the Biden administration.

What did he do? He just spit on Biden's face because we believed that, oh, my God, Biden, look what he is doing. It is good. It is a good idea to give the opportunity to Maduro to just create and conduct free, fair, and transparent elections with international observers, and he was going to go. Look at where he is at now.

Maduro is not only the head of the Suns Cartel, one of the most important drug trafficking cartels in the world, but he was also indicted in 2020 by a Federal grand jury in this country for being one of the major drug traffickers in the world. Not only that, he is now on the transnational criminal organization list. Not only that, he is the head of the Suns Cartel.

As you can see, I can speak until tomorrow about socialism.

The problem is that Venezuela is the perfect example, and the Venezuelans would make fun of the Cubans 25 years ago, saying that it was impossible for that to happen in Venezuela. They had the largest reserves of oil in the world. They were a brave and strong democracy. They were not an island. It was impossible. They have such a strong economy.

Look, right now, the average Venezuelan weighs 15 pounds less because of a lack of food, and the Trump administration has to come to rescue them from what they have turned that country into.

We are at a crossroads in this country. Young Americans, 70 percent believe that socialism is good. One in three believes that government should control major industries. One in four says that we should abolish private property.

It is my duty as a Representative of District 27, the heart of the Cuban exile community, to tell this body it is time to denounce socialism in this country because, just like it happened to the Venezuelans, it could happen to the Americans.

Mr. Speaker, if there is someone who has seen the horrors of socialism up close within the Democratic Party, and is in the House, it is the Honorable Congresswoman Maxine Waters. And I would love for you to support this resolution specifically because, Madam Waters, for decades, you traveled to Cuba dozens of times to visit Fidel Castro personally, whom you considered your friend.

Congresswoman Waters was in Havana, and she saw the destruction of Biblical proportions that Castro caused on that island, who, at the time, in 1960, had the highest per capita income in the Western Hemisphere.

* * *

Mr. Speaker, I am asking for unanimous consent to withdraw the violations of the rules and continue with my speech, which is that there are many people on this floor that have--

Mr. Speaker, there are many people on this floor who have seen the horrors of communism. They have been to Cuba. They have been friends with Fidel Castro. They have seen the jails full of Cuban prisoners. They have seen people preparing rafts to die in the middle of the ocean, eaten by sharks.

There are many people in the Democratic Party who have witnessed that and have not said anything.

For this reason, Mr. Speaker, I am asking some of my colleagues on that side of the aisle, many of them who are very good friends of mine, to understand that denouncing communism and socialism is the right thing to do for the Democratic Party.

If some of the highest, most important Members of the Democratic Party on that side of the aisle want to vote with us, they would be doing a favor to their Republic. Not only that, the Democratic Party will become the new champions for freedom in the Western Hemisphere.